Coming Home
by AFRiley
Summary: Kara returns after the events of Maelstorm, but is the fleet - and the Admiral - ready to welcome her back? With only Lee by her side, she faces the suspicion of the people who were once her friends.
1. Coming Home

The hangar deck was silent. Lee could not remember it being so full of people, and yet so quiet. The entire scene was as mute and motionless as a mere photograph.

The thought raced through Lee's mind in a feverish frenzy, and was gone. His eyes were on the woman standing at the opposite end of the deck, a blond woman with laughter in her eyes and a smirk on her lips. A ghost from the past, a figment of his imagination. The sarcastic, tough-as-nails woman who walked like a man and smoked like a chimney – the creature who was so dear to him that it hurt to look at this... apparition... almost physically.

And then he was running to her, and people were stepping aside to form a corridor, with scandalised mutters, moving aside from _her_. As if she was diseased. Their bodies crashed together, coming home, moulding into each other in such a painfully familiar way. Her back under his hands, solid and real. Hair under his cheek, and it smelt of ambrosia and cigarettes, like always. Her hands on his neck were warm and callused, short nails scraping his skin as she clung onto him like a dying woman.

Lee closed his eyes and held Kara close, locking out the hangar and the muttering pilots and everything else. None if it mattered, none of it, not the race to save humanity, not the fleet, nothing. Not now that she was in his arms again, and his nose was full of her scent once more, and she was real, real, pressed against his chest.

"Hi, Lee", she spoke into his ear, and her voice sent another pang of red-hot pain into his gut.

"Kara." He hadn't spoken her name in weeks, and it felt alien on his tongue.

"I'm here now. Stop shaking, Lee." She led out a low laugh, pulling back to look at him. Her eyes were huge and clear, and Lee could not bear to look at them because it hurt so frakking much. Because he remembered how they darkened with passion, or anger. Because he remembered so much.

"I saw you die, Kara."

"I know."

"I never had the time -"

"Lee, not here. They'll be taking me away now."

"What?"

"They think I'm a Cylon. Of course they do, no need to look so shocked."

"Starbuck?" A voice broke into their personal world, rough and crude. Tigh. His mouth twisted with disbelief, only eye wide and round. Two grim officers towered over him. Armed. "Frakking hell, Starbuck, when they told me..." He cleared his throat. "Please come with me."

Kara smiled at Lee, a smile softer than any that has visited her lips before, and nodded at Tigh.

"Of course, Colonel. The brig?"

"Admiral's quarters, for now. You'll also be guarded. Apollo, you may come with us."

Lee nodded absently and embraced Kara by the shoulders. He was afraid to let her go; the dumb fear of her disappearing if he did still held it's sway.

People moved away from them wherever they passed, and silence was replaced by muttering as soon as they turned a corner. Even the CIC was paralysed, faces crowing the doorways. Lee glimpsed Dualla, a hard, angry mask marring her features. Gaeta looked like a lost little boy. The Admiral was no-where to be seen.

His father's quarters were cool and semi-dark, dominated by a military neatness. An austere, purely male room. The only dissonance was the pale blue cashmere sweater on the sofa. It's owner, the President, was standing alongside the Admiral, behind the table.

"I thought it was a joke," the Admiral breathed, his hard, lined face disclosing no emotion. "How?"

"I don't know." Kara said. "I... I don't know."

"'And a herald of the gods shall cross over, and bring them to Earth,'" Laura Roslin spoke. Her voice, like her body, was growing weaker by the day. The Admiral was supporting her, his hand around her waist. "'A beacon of light to guide them through darkness, a winged angel to fly before the lost humanity.' The prophecies are coming true, Bill."

"Prophecies?" Kara broke away from Lee and placed her hands on the table. There was something of the old Starbuck in that slouch and stubbornly upturned face. "Madam President, with all due respect, I am no – what was it? - 'angel'. I've no idea what happened out there. All I know is that I'm alive – at least I think I am."

"You said you've been to Earth."Lee spoke now. "When you just appeared out there. You said you'd take us there."

Kara's back stiffened. And when she turned around, her eyes were full of pure, undiluted fear.

"What? I – I... I didn't say that. I... I remember... the explosion... blackness... Heard your voice say I was gone. Wanted... wanted to shout that I was alright, but... the intercom wasn't working. I don't remember... Then I was... I was flying behind you and... and... I flew to you and told you I was alright. I must have missed the explosion, or... or..."

"You flew right into it, Kara."

"I don't remember, Lee. Gods, how many minutes was I in there?"

"You've been gone for weeks, Starbuck." The President this time, her voice even weaker.

The blond woman staggered, but Lee took her by the shoulders.

"Are you a Cylon, Starbuck? You died, there is no doubt about it. Are you lying to us?" The Admiral's voice is hard, deliberate.

"Bill -" Roslin placed a hand on his arm.

"I need to know, Laura. Answer the question, Starbuck."

"I... I don't know."

A silence settles over the room.

"Dad, it's Kara," Lee says finally. "It's our Kara."

"Lee, please leave us."

"Dad - "

"Mr. Adama, please walk out of this room right now." The Admiral puts emphasis on the "Mr."

"It's alright, Lee," Kara tries to smile. "It's alright."

And he has no choice but to leave. Walks out of the quarters, and the empty, cold corridor meets him like a foe. Kara seems small, standing there defiantly, eyes shining in the scant light.


	2. Conflicts

'Kara?' She turned around. The brig was not well lighted, and her face seemed grey. 'What did they say?'

'Nothing, Lee. Had a good look at me and sent me off here.'

'I'm sorry. If -'

'Not your fault. You known damn well they had no other way to go about it. I'd have done the same in their place.'

She sat up and embraced her knees, her eyes staring right into his.

'How is Dee?'

'No idea. Haven't seen her in weeks.'

Kara smiled darkly. There was an odd complacency to her. A tranquillity that seemed so out of place with the loud, vibrant Starbuck.

'What happened, Kara? When you said you couldn't remember anything, were you being honest?'

Those eyes just stared.

'No, Lee. At least... I think I was. I saw something when I flew into that nova. I think I did. I was frakked up, okay, seeing, hearing things. Leoben messed me up good, all that talk of destiny. My head went weird and... I just started flying into that nova, and... I knew I was going to be alright. Don't know how – just did. Gut feeling, sixth sense, something like that. And I saw earth. Blue and godsdamn beautiful, just like in the scriptures. It was there, right in front of my eyes, just a little way inside the nova, Lee.'

'But you said -'

'I know, I said I didn't remember anything. Lee, I have no idea if I saw Earth. I – I may have hallucinated it, dreamt it...' She clutched her shoulders, her entire body shaking. 'I really don't know what the frak happened out there. I can't trust myself, Lee. What I think I saw, what I think happened – maybe it didn't. Maybe I didn't see Earth.'

Lee took her chin and lifted her face, and she lunged forward, pressing her mouth to his in a needy, hungry kiss. Her hands slid under his shirt, and she broke away just long enough to pull it over his head. Moments later, both had considerably less clothes on, naked skin against skin, hot and feverish and so familiar. Lee's hands ran down her spine, like that one time, on the table. Those few weeks seemed years now, and he wanted to get to know her once again, the feel of her flat muscles, her strong hips that trembled beneath his questing fingers, her hair pooling onto his face. For those two months, he avoided all thoughts of Kara like a disease, and now, with her in his arms, her weight on him, every memory came storming back into his mind.

Neither thought of the guards outside, or remembered that someone could have walked in any moment. Spent and sated, they fell apart. Kara squirmed, trying to get comfortable on the narrow bunk.

'Well...' Lee breathed. 'That certainly brought back memories.'

Kara kissed the tip of his nose.

'It sure did... Lee, how is Sam?'

'Didn't see much of him. He spent a few days getting drunk, after you... disappeared. Last I heard, he was flying as pilot.'

'Are you and Dee -'

'Divorced. She walked out.'

Kara climbed over him, and went to the sink.

'Knew it would end up that way, Lee.' She splashed cold water onto her face, then wiped it with a towel. 'Can you get Cottle to come here?' Kara went on.

'Sure, if you need him.'

'I need to know if I'm a Cylon, Lee. Maybe Cottle will see any changes, anything. If not... Athena, maybe she'd be able to do something. I can't just sit in here not knowing what happened.'

* * *

'If that woman is a Cylon, there is only one thing to do, Laura.'

'Are you willing to execute one of your pilots?'

'She came back from the dead, Laura.'

'We don't know that. We don't know anything, as a matter of fact.' Bill poured a glass of ambrosia. Laura rose from the bunk, painfully.

'She'd never have had the fuel to fly around for so long,' Bill's voice was iron, 'And Lee saw her ship blow to pieces.'

'Gods know what he saw, Bill! He was flying in a storm! For all we know, he saw some debris. And... What if Starbuck really has been to Earth?'

'If that woman is a Cylon agent, she has nothing but the airlock waiting for her. I cannot let her endanger our people, not when we are so close to Earth. And from where I am standing, she cannot be anything but a Cylon.' Every word is clear, every word is laced with unwavering determination.

'It's Kara, Bill. Starbuck. She's as good as your daughter, for gods' sakes. How can you -'

'I can. And I will, if that is the right thing to do.'

Laura rose to her feet, and there was anger simmering within her that even her frail body could not disguise.

'If you do that, Bill,' she said, every inch the President, 'without any evidence to support your claim, if you dare condemn that woman to death just because of her apparently miraculous survival, then you are not better than the man you acquitted two months ago.'


	3. Destinies

'And I thought I was done stitching you up every two days,' Cottle grumbled. His gloved hands touched her face, tilting it up so he could look at her eyes. Kara sat poker-straight on the cold examination table, the metal beneath her sending cold pins into her skin. She had been here so many times, and yet the place seemed odd. Too clean, maybe. And lacking cigar smoke.

'Your hands are cold,' Kara mutters.

'Like a corpse's?'

'Pretty much.'

'Get undressed, Starbuck, we'll do a full body scan.'

Once she was inside the scanner – a white tube hidden behind thick blue curtains – Kara exhaled and closed her eyes. Feverishly, she hoped that this examination would give her some answers. She needed them, frak it, anything, some hint, a clue. Leoben had haunted her interrupted dreams for the past three days, telling her she was a Cylon. His voice, filled with hot, swirling chocolate, told her she would love him, that she would have no choice but to have him after she ended humanity's pitiful existence. And the worst thing was that she could still feel his hands, his hands, not Lee's. It sent shivers down her spine and made her stomach lurch, but every time she lay down to sleep, Leoben would appear.

The out-dated machine growled into life, its insides complaining as a blue light flickered on, then off, then on again, and began to move down the scanner's length.

'Anything?' the Admiral asked, appearing from behind the curtain.

Cottle took out a cigar and lighted it.

'Let's see - ' He clicked something on a remote he was holding, and an image came onto a small screen hanging from a wall. 'Fractured fifth, sixth and seventh ribs. Broken right arm.' The image zoomed into a skeletal leg. 'Remember when she spent a few days right here, begging me for painkillers? The bone never grew back properly – she got into the cockpit too early. It's her alright, at least in body. I took a closer look just before. Every scar is there, and believe me, there are many.'

'Are you sure -?'

'A fluke? No. I know my stitching when I see it, and if you ask anyone, that is not a boast.'

There is a pained expression on the Admiral's face, as if his teeth hurt, all the same time. 'How is the President?' he asks.

'Chamalla or not, she isn't turning any better, and at this stage it's not good. I'd say five, six months at most. If only she agreed to chemo, then longer. A year, I'd have promised, maybe sixteen months.'

The Admiral stared at the screen for a moment, then strode out of the room, and the curtains billowed like stormy waves.

* * *

'Captain Apollo?' Lee looked up from his suitcase and smiled.

'Madam President. It's -'

'Mr. Adama now, yes. Forgive me – old habits die hard. Will you walk with me?'

The corridor was empty, but for three or four early-morning joggers. Lee knew that the pilots were in the wash-rooms at that moment, laughing and joking and making a mess of the place, and would ignore the senior officers' complaints with saintly innocence. Racetrack would be slapping the boys with her towel, and the men would be discussing their more interesting dreams loudly, doing so deliberately to annoy the women. He knew it all so well that it felt strange to no longer be a part of that giggling, swearing and joking crowd.

'You seem miles away,' Roslin commented with a wry smile.

'Forgive me, Madam President.'

'There is no need to apologise. Mr. Adama, what is it that you plan to do now?'

Lee falters. He had been trying to keep his plans a secret from his father, and Roslin, well, it was common knowledge that she and the Admiral were close.

'Mr. Lampkin offered me a job, Madam President. A chance to get off the "Galactica", and a good wage.'

'A tempting offer, I am sure. I wonder... Would the job of a Presidential delegate on the Quorum of Twelve be just as tempting?'

She turned to him with that gentle, knowing smile. She knew that he would accept, knew that he had no other choice but to accept it.

'Quorum of Twelve?' Lee repeated.

'Yes. You will live on the "Colonial One", there are plenty of rooms available. You will be directing Quorum-related affairs, acting as a connecting device between myself and the Quorum. They have been getting increasingly dissatisfied with my inability to meet them every second day, I'm afraid.'

'I -'

'The job will involve frequent trips to "Galactica", Mr. Adama.'

'You've planned this well, Madam President.' Lee muttered, perfectly disarmed. The President looked pleased.

'I'd like you to start as soon as you can. I understand if you need two or three days here.'

'Thank you, Madam President.' And his gratitude was sincere, even though he knew exactly why she made him that offer. He knew that his father did not want to let him out of his sight, and yet, somehow, he was relieved that he would still be a part of the world he was so used to. Looking from the outside in, but at least it was something.

* * *

_Leoben's mouth claimed hers, warm and possessive. Strong arms wrapped around her waist holding her close, closer, until she could not tell where one of them ended and the other began. A perfect fit of body and soul, hands and feet tangled in a gasping, panting breath, until she could not bear it any longer, until the golden glow was too strong to contain within. It escaped in a single word, a name - _

_'Lee.'_

_Leoben drew away, a sarcastic grin twisting his pale lips. _

_'He'll be leaving soon, Kara. Leaving to start a new life.' _

_'He'll stay. He knows I need him.' _

_'Yes, he does. But he can't stay, can he? He's a civilian now.' Kara pulled a sheet over her chest, looking away from that wolfish grin. Leoben went on. 'He'll find some pretty girl in the fleet, someone gentle and malleable. Forget the military, the flight-suit. You. Should have taken the chance when you had it, Kara. And now you have no-one but me. Wait a little, and your destiny's path will lead you there. Don't worry, there is nothing you can do. It's all been laid out, a long time before you were born. What has happened before will happen again. So many men and women, before you, so many tried to fight it. All of them failed.' _

_'I won't.'_

_'You will, Kara. Strong as you are, your strength is waning. You're alone, weak, vulnerable. No-one will trust you, see. And when it happens, everyone will blame you.' _

_Kara fights to turn away, to flee the wretched white room and the blazing white light. But his arms are strong, and she thrashes in the sheets like a wild animal, screaming the single name that comes to her mind, the name that she remembers time after time. _


	4. Distance

Kara's eyes snapped open. Her hair was matted with swear, and her chest heaved with ragged breathing. She lifted her hands and saw red half-moon imprints on her palms. She could still feel his scent in her nose, the deceitful warmth of his hands on her back. Ghostly echoes of the Cylon's silky voice lingered in her ears. It was like living an nightmare, a nightmare that did not flee with waking, that clung to the back of her mind like a parasite.

The doors clanged open, permitting a cold blue light into the brig. Admiral Adama strode in, closely followed by Athena. She tried to understand what he was thinking, but, as always, his face was a hard crust of cold indifference.

Kara rose, and saluted. Athena's hand moved, but she kept it by her side, looking warily at the grim Admiral.

'Athena asked permission to talk to you. You have an hour.' The Admiral spun on his heels and walked away, his boots beating loudly on the floor, the sound echoing off the empty walls like waves of pain.

The smaller woman sat on the edge of Kara's bunk, looking at her intently. Her hand reached out, and wavered an inch away from Karas fingers.

'Starbuck, I -'

And before she finished, the two women were locked in a tight embrace. They had hardly been best friends, but too much time had been spent together for there to have been no bond between the two pilots. After all, ample amounts of alcohol and gambling had made a good job of forging a family from their group. A rather dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless.

'Athena.' Kara pulled back, the grim reality of her situation falling back on her. 'If there is anything -'

' - you're not a Cylon, Starbuck.'

Before Kara could check herself, relief, cold and sticky, collapsed onto her shoulders.

'How?' the single word escaped from her lips, little more than a breath.

'Well, you are physically you, for one. And two, I _am_ a Cylon...'

It seemed so simple now. So very simply, so clear. It took Athena's calm, dark eyes and serene smile to make Kara believe it, but now she did. And she felt foolish, foolish for... Well, for something. Her mind wasn't registering it especially well. The past few days had been spent in convincing herself that she was a Cylon, and now... There was nothing, nothing but emptiness.

'Do you remember what happened, Kara?'

'No. No.'

'Please, it's important -'

A sudden fury flared inside of Kara.

'Leave.'

Athena's eyebrows rose.

'I said leave.' Kara repeated, enunciating every word. She clenched her hands into fists, holding herself back from hitting Athena there and then. And she did not know where that strange desire came from.

When the other pilot slid out from the room, Kara exhaled, the inexplicable anger leaving her with the breath. A key turned in the lock. Safe. Everyone was safe. From her.

* * *

'Don't say you told me so,' Bill smiled a broken smile. Laura's hand drowned in his.

'I won't.' Laura shifted in her chair, reaching for a pen. 'I told you so.'

'You shouldn't be working so late.'

They eyes met, completed the old and repeated conversation without words.

'I will rest soon enough,' she said, quietly. 'So Starbuck -'

' - is Starbuck.'

'Will you release her?'

'Do I have a choice?'

'It's her, Bill. Accept it. She needs your compassion now, not your coldness. I know you are confused, we all are. Just accept that Starbuck is back. She must be going through herself, and there is no need to add to it. Bill?

Bill did not answer. She knew him too well, he thought. Said things he knew were right, things he did not want to hear.

Laura rose, and their hands separated. She moved with the slow deliberation of someone who was trying to pretend they were not in pain. Bill watched as she removed her jacket and undid the first button of her shirt, as if it had been strangling her.

'I need to tell Tory to bring my files here,' Laura remarked, beginning to shuffle trough some papers. 'I can't work without the documents.'

'Cottle is here, Laura. You know that if anything should happen -'

'Nothing will happen, Bill.' Laura's voice had an edge of steel. Bill wondered at how different this woman could be, how multi-faceted. The gentle school-teacher. The tough, almost ruthless, President. Fire and ice. Black and white.

A knock on the door shattered the tense silence.

'It's open,' Bill called. Laura lowered herself into the chair, hiding herself behind the table and books piled on it.

Lee walked in, each steps sure and measured. Fire danced in his blue eyes.

'May I ask why Kara is still in the brig?'

The Admiral rose to his full height, bristling.

'She is there on my orders, Mr. Adama. It is I who should be inquiring as to why there are civilians on my ship without express permission.' Each word cut the air between them like a scalpel.

Hurt flashed through Lee's face, but was immediately reigned in.

'Admiral Adama, I'm afraid Mr. Adama is here as my aide,' the President spoke gently. Sitting between the two men, she seemed small and frail. 'Mr. Adama is, as of today, the Presidential representative on the Quorum of Twelve.'

It was the Admiral who looked pained now. The coldness thawed for a moment, letting age and sadness peek through. He was loosing his son. Loosing him there and then, and he knew it, just as he knew that there was nothing he could do about it. He no longer knew this young man. No longer knew what was in his mind, who he really was. And whose fault it was, he could not say.

'Captain Thrace will be released from the brig as soon as possible, Mr. Adama. Is this all?'

Lee looked uncertain. Then he exhaled. His hand twitched as he stifled the instinct to salute.

'No, sir. That is all, sir.'

'Please come by tomorrow morning, Mr. Adama,' the President rose, supporting herself on her hands. 'Good-night.'

The last thing Lee saw when the door closed, was the blue of his father's uniform and the broad back turned towards him.

* * *

Voice. Excited voices, talking, laughing, exclaiming. The pilots and deck-hands crowded around Kara, each asking her something, each wanting her attention. She felt lost, completely engulfed by their questions and the hands slapping her back. The first instinct was to run, but she forced the shards of her cocky grin onto her face and stayed where she was.

How. What. Why. How could she give this cacophonous throng the answers they wanted? The answers she herself did not have. There were new faces here, people she did not know. Pilots. New pilots. Vaguely, she wondered who had trained them. They looked at her with awe, these children. She was a hero in their eyes. If only they knew...

Sam. She spotted Sam in the crowd, in the painfully familiar flight-suit. There was a smear of dirt across his cheek, and his hair was a mess. He held a helmet under his arm. He was the only person not fighting to get to her, the only person not asking questions.

'Let my husband through,' Kara said quietly, but they heard her. Sam moved down the corridor. He shoved the helmet at someone, without looking, and pulled Kara into an embrace.

She closed her eyes, trying to feel something, anything. But it did not come. There was something there, something between them that she felt with a gut instinct. And when Sam moved in to kiss her, she let that kiss land on her cheek.

Sam's eyes were questioning. He wanted to talk, but not here. His hands were still on her back, and she wanted them gone. Because they felt like the hands of a stranger. Because she could still remember Lee's hands.

The mess was blissfully quiet, and empty. Kara perched on a chair. Sam closed the door and turned the key.

'I wanted to see you, but the guards -'

'I know.'

Silence hung between them. What else was there to say? Kara did not know. She could not find any words, words that came so easily when she was with Lee. This was her husband, she reminded herself. The man she had been so comfortable with, at so much ease. But this man in the pilot's uniform did not seem like that Sam. He was... older. Grimmer. His eyes were framed by dark circles, and a scratch adorned his forehead. He was now what Lee had once been. The parallel was deeply ironic.

'I missed you,' Sam said.

Kara said nothing.

'Kara?'

So that was how it all ended. Now, just like that. The wall, tall and wide, the distance when they were so physically close. It was so simple, Kara thought, with dark amusement. Too simple.

'It's good to be back.' Kara muttered, just for the sake of saying something.

'What happened out there? We just heard that you flew into -'

'I don't know what happened, Sam.'

'But -'

'I don't know.'

He didn't understand. How could he? How could he comprehend the mess in her head? She looked at the wedding band on his finger and felt a red-hot hatred towards it. Towards everything it meant.

'I need to go, Sam.'

'Go? Go where? I missed you.' He repeated it with an air of a hurt child.

'Admiral wants to see me. Something about reinstating me as CAG.'

'CAG? Kara, but what -'

'What if I'm a Cylon?'

'Have you wondered if you might be a Cylon? What if you were, all along?'

'Sorry to disappoint you,' Kara grinned darkly. 'Seems me is me, after all. Cottle and Athena seem to think so, at least.'

'It's not that easy, Kara!' There was a strange, fiery conviction in his words. 'You may not know you are one, some don't! I mean, Athena is a good example!'

Kara rose and strode out of the mess, leaving Sam alone amongst the tables and chairs.


	5. Closer

The next day, the President found Lee hovering outside the officers' bunks. He supposed Kara was with Sam, and was considering knocking on the staring metal door.

'She is with the Admiral,' Roslin said, approaching Lee. 'They have been talking all morning.'

'I supposed they would, sooner or later,' Lee remarked, stepping away from that hateful door. 'Thank you. For – for everything.'

'You're wondering why I don't despise you for what you did at the trial.'

Lee did not answer. The President understood.

'Mr. Adama,' she went on, 'what you did may be considered a personal betrayal. Both of your father and of me. Your father certainly seems to think so. I did, for a while. But then I remembered everything you did for me. You were one of the few people who supported me in my first days in office, you were thrown in the brig for aiding me. Understand, Mr. Adama, that no matter how despicable your support for... that man... was, I do not forget people who were loyal to me.'

'I did what I had to, Madam President. I am not going to feel guilty about it.'

She looked at him, measuring, understanding.

'I know that, Mr. Adama. You did what you thought was the honorable thing to do. I can understand, if not condone, that.'

She closed her eyes for a moment and took in a ragged breath. She did not have the time to feel any hatred, not towards this confused young man. He was in love, he was idealistic. And she was running out of time, more so with every passing hour. She felt the disease drain her body, when her mind was still strong. Strong on the inside, so weak on the outside.

'Madam President, are you -'

'I'm fine, Mr. Adama. I'm used to it, no need to fret.'

'You should see Cottle. Should I -'

'No. I said I'm alright. Just give me a second.'

She grasped his arm to keep herself upright. Her hand was cold and dry. A minute passed, and her breathing returned to normal.

'I'm sorry for that, Mr. Adama.' Her voice was hoarse.

'Don't apologize, Madam President. Isn't there anything they can do?'

'No, Mr. Adama. There is not, not unless you have a sidearm you can lend met. Can you please escort me to the Admiral's quarters?'

* * *

When the door opened, Lee saw Kara sitting in a chair across the Admiral. She was in full, clean uniform, her hair was pulled back into a neat pony-tail. She looked fresh and alert. For a moment, Lee felt as though nothing had changed. As though she would leap up and run to him with her wide grin and dancing eyes and make endless jokes all the way to the hangar.

The Admiral looked up. He was worn out, despite the fact that it was early morning.

'That's all for today, Kara. Come by if you need anything else.'

Kara nodded, then rose. For a moment, she looked hesitant, then lent across the table and embraced the Admiral, burying her head in his uniform jacket. The man, surprised, did not react at first, then put his hands around her back and patted it clumsily.

The moment was shattered by the shrill sound of a siren:

"_Set condition one throughout the fleet." _Tigh's voiced echoed through he corridors.

The Admiral and Kara broke apart.

'Captain Thrace, you know what to do.'

Kara grinned and rushed out of the room. On her way out, her eyes met Lee's, full of promise. Their arms brushed together, and a whirlpool of memories choked Lee. She was a mirage, the definition of everything he held dear. Her scent, shampoo and cigarettes, engulfed him, overwhelming the man's senses.

The Admiral followed Kara into the corridor. He did not seem to see Lee standing there, his gaze was fixed on something far away.

_'The the angel shall lead them out of darkness. Lead them to the place of safety, of peace. The angel's wings will be a beacon of light, it's bravery a source of their strength. Protected by the Gods, the angel will be the last link between the lost ones and the promised Earth. Heed the angel if you wish to live. Heed not, and doom humanity for eternity.' _

The President's voice was quiet, almost drowned out by the siren. And then the book fell from her hands, landing on the carpet with a low thud. Lee rushed to her, and she collapsed into his arms, face bloody-red in the flashing crimson lights.

* * *

'Alright nuggets,' Kara shouted as she pulled her flight-suit on, 'I don't know who the frak taught you to fly, but I ain't them. I don't want any half-wits in my ships, is that clear? So unless you can do a Triple-Annex formation in your sleep, I don't want to see you near anything that has wings.'

Racetrack rolled her eyes, then gave Kara a haughty grin.

'Welcome back , Starbuck.'

'Its good to be back,' Kara replied, and this time she meant it. 'Can someone give me the stats? Gods, I've been gone for a few weeks and this place is a mess.'

'Two base-ships and twenty Raiders, five minutes ago. Five Raiders moving in strong, six minutes to impact.'

Kara eyed the twelve pilots. Out of them, only three she had flown with before. She would have rather taken those she knew, but there was no time to hand-pick.

'Thank you, Racetrack. Nuggets, flying 101. For Gods' sakes don't attempt anything heroic. And try not to die. End of lesson.'

The nuggets exchanged worried looks.

Kara sighed and drew Racetrack aside.

'Have they actually been in combat before?' she asked.

'Nope,' Racetrack answered, looking just as unhappy as Kara was. 'It was low-key past three weeks.'

'Isn't there anyone else we can put in the cockpits?'

'Not unless you want to pull people out of beds.'

Kara pulled at the zipper of her suit. No, there was no time to get anyone else suited up.

'Right then. I want Triple Annex the moment we are out. Behind me and Racetrack. If anyone has a problem, turn 180 degrees. Door that way.'

No-one left. Of course they didn't.

Kara jumped into the cockpit. Her hands skimmed the controls, fingers getting to know the buttons and levers all over again. It felt like coming home, being here, in this cramped place, surrounded by lights, hearing the muffled voices of the officers in CIC in her ear. She grinned and shut her eyes, taking in the dazzling moment of deja-vu, until Racetrack reported that the nuggets were in and ready.

'CIC, this is Starbuck. Stats, please.' Starbuck spoke the moment everyone was positioned behind her. She looked out and saw the frightened faces of the nuggets, white behind the helmets.

The space was vast and black before her. She could not see the Raiders yet, but with a gut feeling she knew they were not far off.

'Starbuck – CIC. Five Raiders, two minutes to impact, and – Wait. Ten more have moved out. ETA seven minutes.' Kara wondered if she imagined the note of strange happiness in Dualla's otherwise dry voice.

'Nuggets, we've got two groups incoming. Pan out, cover the Galactica on both sides. Do not, I repeat, do not, start shooting until I give the command. We'll lure the first group in, then you close in around them. They won't last a minute.'

Kara heard the intercom click – someone had switched to a private channel.

'Captain, that will expose the nuggets to the second group,' the Admiral himself spoke into her ear.

'Yeah. But those toasters don't know these are nuggets, do they?'

'I'm sending in re-enforcements.'

'They won't help us now. Listen, we'll surround them, and the three of us will shoot those frakkers down before they can maul our newbies.'

'Captain, I -'

But she did not hear the Admiral – the five Raiders had appeared on the horizon, becoming bigger with every passing second. Her eyes narrowed.

Closer. Just a little closer. She heard some nugget panting in fear. Closer.

In the background, CIC spoke and shouted, commands and impotent questions.

Closer.

Leoben's voice swirling in her ears. The touch of the suit was like the touch of his body against hers. Lee. Earth. She blinked, but it still hovered before her eyes, a blue dot, tantalizing, calling.

Closer.

Nuggets calling to her.

Closer.

She could just reach out and touch the blue-green crystal. It was beautiful, beautiful. She closed her eyes, imagining how the sky would look, how the sound of the waves would caress her hearing. She smelt salty air, and it tickled her nose. She licked her lips, and there was salt on them, white and delicious.

"_Will she live?"_

"_She just flew through an explosion, Leoben."_

"_What will happen if she dies?"_

"_God has another plan, I expect. She's only a human. So weak, so fragile."_

'I am not weak,' Kara muttered, through gritted teeth. "Nuggets. NOW!"


End file.
